Page 18 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

introduCtion

In facing unprecedented challenges, it is good to consider historical precedents.

s alarm over global warming spreads, some climate engineers are
engaging in wild speculation and are advancing increasingly urgent
A proposals about how to “control” the Earth’s climate. They are stalk-
ing the hallways of power, hyping their proposals, and seeking support for their
ideas about fixing the sky. The figures they scribble on the backs of envelopes and
the results of their simple (yet somehow portrayed as complex) climate models
have convinced them, but very few others, that they are planetary saviors, life-
boat builders on a sinking Titanic, visionaries who are taking action in the face
of a looming crisis. They present themselves as insurance salesmen for the planet,
with policies that may or may not pay benefits. In response to the question of
what to do about climate change, they are prepared to take ultimate actions to
intervene, even to do too much if others, in their estimation, are doing too little.
These climate engineers share a growing concern that something is terribly
wrong with the sky. They are convinced that the climate system is headed into
uncharted territory, carbon mitigation will fail or at least move too slowly to
avert an environmental disaster, and adaptation will be too little, too late. Some
simply place more faith in engineering solutions than in human agreements.